uniqID_maker: Generate a list of ID codes

Description

Create ID codes consisting of a text string and unique numbers (string001, string002, ...). Can be run in interactive mode, prompting user for input. The data.frame output can be saved as CSV for (i) the create_PDF function to generate printable QR-coded labels; and (ii) to downstream data collection software (spreadsheets, relational databases, etc.)

Usage

uniqID_maker(
  user = FALSE,
  string = NULL,
  level,
  digits = 3,
  ending_string = NULL
)

Arguments

user

logical. Run function using interactive mode (prompts user for parameter values). Default is FALSE

string

character. Text string for label. Default null.

level

integer vector. Defines the numerical values to be appended to the character string. Can be any sequence of numbers (see examples).

digits

numerical. Default is 2. Number of digits to be printed, adding leading 0s as needed. This will apply to all levels when user=FALSE. When the numeric value of the label has a greater number of digits than digits, digits is automatically increased for the entire level. Default is 3.

ending_string

a character string or vector of strings to attach to the label. If a vector is used, all combinations of that vector with a unique label will be produced.

Value

data.frame with text labels in the first column, along with string and numeric values in two additional columns.

Details

When the function is called with user = TRUE, a sequence of numbers is generated between the starting and ending number provided by the user. When user = FALSE, a vector of custom numbers can be provided. See example below.

Examples

Run this code

# NOT RUN {

## sequential string of numbers in label
Labels <- uniqID_maker(string = "string", level = c(1:5), digits = 2)
Labels

## can also use nonsequential strings in input for levels
level <- c(1:5, 8:10, 999:1000)
Labels <- uniqID_maker(string = "string", level = level, digits = 4)
Labels


## Using the ending_string to produce labels with unique endings
## this is different from hierarchical labels with two levels as there 
## is no numbering, just the text string


Labels <- uniqID_maker(string = "string", level = c(1:5), digits = 2, ending_string = "A")
Labels

Labels <- uniqID_maker(string = "string", level = c(1:5), 
                       digits = 2, ending_string = c("A", "B"))
Labels


if(interactive()){
## function using user prompt does not use any of the other parameters
Labels <- uniqID_maker(user = TRUE)
Labels
}
# }